Mali Blues: Traveling to an African Beat

Mali Blues takes acclaimed writer Lieve Joris to West Africa. Traveling in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, Joris finds countries troubled by drought, rebel uprisings and ethnic conflict. But the Africans she meets are survivors, fascinating individuals charting new ways of living between tradition and modernity. The story of Malinese blues singer Kar Kar (Boubacar Traoré) - celebrated in Europe, caught up in a family tragedy at home - epitomises the struggles facing so many people in these lands. With her remarkable gift for drawing stories out of people, Joris paints a hauntingly intimate portrait of the singer and his society, brilliantly capturing the rhythms of a world that refuses to give in. In this finely observed collection of four tales, the author of The Gates of Damascus again succeeds in penetrating to the very heart of a region.